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Posted: 28-04-2012 19:33 Post subject:

I've been doing my family tree for a number of years and every now and again I come across some great names - Knightley Pratt is my favourite. I've also seen Gaius, Gehazi, Jem, and Keziah often crops up.

Posted: 28-04-2012 19:37 Post subject:

Gaius? It's amazing how those old Roman names keep cropping up.

Posted: 28-05-2012 20:11 Post subject:

I'm watching
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jhwnk/A_Picture_of_London/

It includes a London Cabbie called Alan Fresco...

(If you had the surname Fresco, would you call your son Alan? Shocked

)

Posted: 28-05-2012 20:45 Post subject:

Posted: 22-06-2012 04:21 Post subject:

A member of the military named Major Dick called my boss once - we had a good laugh when he got off the phone.

Posted: 22-06-2012 09:29 Post subject:

That's made my Friday! LOL

Posted: 07-08-2012 18:10 Post subject:

From an Olympics report, a name to conjure with:

"In athletics, high jumper Robbie Grabarz..." Wink

Posted: 07-08-2012 18:16 Post subject:

Posted: 07-08-2012 22:20 Post subject:

I must be very childish, but whilst watching GB men vs South Korea in the Olympic football the other night, I was highly amused when the Koreans brought on a goalkeeper by the name of Bumyoung. Yes, it's probably the South Korean version of "John", but it still made me titter.

Posted: 07-08-2012 22:25 Post subject:

Posted: 07-08-2012 22:29 Post subject:

Posted: 24-08-2012 09:21 Post subject:

Jools Oliver says naming her daughter after a My Little Pony toy is nobody else's business
It ranks alongside Fifi Trixibelle and Moon Unit as one of the more unusual names given by celebrities to their children but Jools Oliver has said her decision to call her daughter after a My Little Pony toy is no one else’s business.
By John-Paul Ford Rojas
4:03PM BST 23 Aug 2012

The mother-of-four, whose three-year-old girl is called Petal Blossom Rainbow, said she “hated” people giving their opinions about baby’s names.
Mrs Oliver added that her husband, the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, had to tell her to “calm down” when choosing them for their children.
The 37-year-old former model also revealed that she wanted to have more, and that she was “comfortable being a mum” rather than having a career.

Mrs Oliver, whose other three children are Poppy Honey Rosie, ten, Daisy Boo Pamela, nine, and Buddy Bear Maurice, two, told Gurgle magazine: “They all have more than one name because I couldn’t decide.

“I’m not sure where Petal Rainbow came from - apparently it’s a My Little Pony! I wanted to call her Rainbow but Jamie told me to calm down.

“With Buddy it was quite fun choosing a boy’s name, as I hadn’t done it before. And I hate people’s opinions on names. Whatever you call your baby is your decision.”

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/9495117/Jools-Oliver-says-naming-her-daughter-after-a-My-Little-Pony-toy-is-nobody-elses-business.html

Posted: 09-11-2012 10:21 Post subject:

The consequences of having a ‘foreign’ name

There's a multicultural panoply of names in many British school registers these days. But once many people found themselves wishing for a plain "British" name, writes Sangita Myska.

Some things in life should be simple, like booking a table at a restaurant, ordering a takeaway or pretty much anything that involves saying my name - either on the telephone or in person.
Yet, for me, it never has been.

For years, my name's been put through the verbal mincer to produce a truly ghastly feast of phonetic sausage meat - my favourite being "Fang-eater". Cool

Growing up in the 1980s, it was the endless stream of awkward corrections and garbled pronunciation that made me hanker after a name English people could pronounce.

Having said that, I've stuck with it. Exactly why, I'm not entirely sure. I know plenty of other immigrants who have anglicized, adapted or ditched altogether their distinctly foreign-sounding names. And I've often wondered why in modern, multicultural Britain they feel they should.

These questions have led me on a fascinating journey through the landscape of Britain's immigrant names

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20228060

It's not just immigrants who have problems! My surname is as English as you can get, two syllables of pure anglo-saxon, and it's also the name of several towns and villages in England.

But whenever I give my name, I get queried about it - "Is that *****?" or "Sorry, did you say ******?" If I ring up the doc's for a prescription or an appointment, like as not they'll ask for my DOB or address as well because the receptionist can't find what she thinks is my name on her computer! Evil or Very Mad

Posted: 09-11-2012 10:35 Post subject:

My surname is a spelling variant of a relatively common one but even when you put the name in front of people written down they seem unable to type the durn thing in correctly.

Interestingly considering how relatively rare the spelling is I came across three people with that surname who died in the Scilly Naval disaster of 1707 (also known as the Shovell disaster after the name of the Admiral in charge) so presumably distantly related and presumably related to each other.

Posted: 09-11-2012 10:47 Post subject: